Two face child abuse charges in Bledsoe

The Bledsoe County Sheriff’s Office has filed child abuse charges against two specialneeds-paraprofessionals who were employed by the Bledsoe County School District but have now been fired along with four other school system employees.

Authorities arrested Chloe Frizzell, 25, and Shelia Schmidt, 63, both of Pikeville, on child abuse charges last week and released each on a $7,500 bond, Bledsoe County Sheriff Jimmy Morris said Monday in a phone interview.

Morris said Frizzell and Schmidt were arrested Wednesday on charges linked to an incident or incidents that happened on school property. The alleged victims were special needs students, Morris said, but he didn’t provide ages or genders to avoid any possibility of identifying them.

Morris was unable to provide details of the alleged abuse but he said the allegations were not sexual in nature.

The district has more than 1,500 students enrolled in three elementary schools, a middle school, a high school and a vocational technology center, according to information on the district’s website.

Selina Sparkman, the director of Bledsoe County Schools, could not be reached Monday for comment. The Bledsoe County Courthouse was closed Monday for Presidents Day, and court records and an attorney of record for the defendants were unavailable.

“The charged individuals have been terminated along with four other employees,” Howard Upchurch, the school system’s attorney, said Monday via email. “The defendants’ initial court appearance is March 6 in the General Sessions Court. As you know,

I am the judge of that court and will designate another jurist to conduct future proceedings applicable to these defendants based upon my representation of the Bledsoe County Schools and the Board of Education.”

Upchurch said the school system will continue to examine all information from school officials, law enforcement, the Department of Children’s Services and the District Attorney’s Office. He did not say why the other four employees were terminated.

“The safety of students is paramount to the board and school administrators and any event which touches upon their security is (and was) immediately addressed,” Upchurch said.